Halong Bay & Cat Ba Vietnam Information

170 km away from Hanoi, Halong Bay is the World Natural Heritage site, one of the most beautiful places on earth. With its picturesque blend of land and sea, this one of the world's most precious beauty spots. Halong is covers an area of over 1,500 km, dotted with thousands of rocky islands, it really is a natural sculpture on a gigantic scale.
Numerous large and small islands of countless shapes rise from the sea along the 200km stretch of coast from the estuary of the Bach Dang river to Tra Co beach. Local fishermen have given many of them evocative names according to their shapes: Cone-shape Cookie, Banana, Small Fish, Tortoise, Nail, Wading Ox, Wallowing Buffalo, and many more. The islands are riddled with innumerable caves and grottoes offering spectacular stalactite displays. Bo Nau cave, Dau Go grotto and Trinh Nu grotto are especially worth seeing.
Sail-boats and motor-boats are available to take you on a panoramic journey of the bay with visits to some of the caves and grottoes. Halong Bay is an experience that will stay with you forever.

When is the best time to visit Halong?
Summer is a good time to cruise on Halong Bay but the best time of year is during the spring or fall. Because the bay is situated in the northern part of the country, it can get colder in the fall and winter, and though you won't see extremes such as blizzards, it's still a lousy place to be when it gets cold.

Tip: You should bring a swim suit with you, night's swim in the phosphorescent water is also very nice (must be before your drinks)